"The deployment of National Guard units and federal agents to Memphis for a Donald Trump-defined crime-fighting mission has gotten far less alarmed attention nationally than the earlier presidential takeover of law enforcement in Washington, D.C. But even though the president himself is calling the Memphis action a "replica" of the D.C. "crackdown," it's actually different in important ways and is also different from future Guard deployments Trump is threatening to undertake in places such as Chicago."
"First of all, D.C. isn't in a state, and the president has quasi-gubernatorial powers over city government. He had the power to call up the National Guard there just like a governor would in the states. He also has special emergency authority to control local law enforcement in emergencies he identifies. So nothing anywhere else could actually be a "replica" of what he did in the nation's capital."
"Second of all, Trump conveniently has a submissive Republican governor in place in Tennessee who can call up the National Guard without encountering the legal restrictions federalized Guard units must acknowledge under a 19th-century law prohibiting use of the military for domestic law enforcement other than in extreme situations. Governor Bill Lee very clearly didn't think the crime situation in Memphis required Guard units until Trump told him otherwise, but he's going along with the Memphis deployment because The Boss said so."
President Trump sent National Guard units and federal agents to Memphis on a crime-fighting mission that attracted less national alarm than the earlier Washington, D.C. takeover. The Washington action rested on unique presidential quasi-gubernatorial and emergency powers because D.C. is not a state. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee activated state Guard units after presidential prompting, avoiding the federal constraints that limit federalized military use for domestic law enforcement under a 19th-century statute. The Memphis operation is a federal mission created and defined by the president rather than a state-led initiative, leaving operational control nominally with the governor but effectively centralized by presidential direction.
Read at Intelligencer
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